Caller Id Hearings Today Focus On Privacy Issues

September 27, 1990|By PATTI ROTH, Staff Writer

A state panel is bringing the Caller ID controversy to Miami today in an effort to hear from South Florida telephone customers on the privacy-rights issues generated by the proposed Southern Bell service.

The service, which displays a caller`s number while the phone is ringing, has been the focus of public hearings by the Public Service Commission this week.

The commission, which must approve the service before it can be offered in the state, will conduct hearings at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. today in the Radisson Mart Plaza Hotel, 711 NW 72nd Ave., Miami.

Supporters say Caller Identification would give people a welcome clue to who is on the other end of the line before answering, and that the service deters obscene phone calls.

Others argue that the system should allow callers the option of keeping their numbers secret, rather than have them automatically transmitted every time they use the telephone.

``Caller ID is a service that the people who purchase it are not the only people affected by it,`` said Jill Butler, chief of the state Public Service Commission`s Rates and Economics Bureau. ``People who don`t purchase it are also affected by it.``

Among the issues being considered is whether the phone company also should offer a separate service to block numbers from being transmitted to Caller ID equipment.

The American Civil Liberties Union supports Caller ID when a caller-blocking option also is available, said Robyn Blumner, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.

However, Southern Bell does not want to offer the caller-blocking option to everyone. That would detract from the purpose, spokesman Mike Branigan said.

He said Southern Bell proposes to offer that option only in cases where revealing a number jeopardizes security, such as a battered-spouse center.

The phone company, Branigan said, has alternative measures to protect the private lines of others, such as doctors and undercover police officers.

The proposed Caller ID service would cost $7.50 a month for residences and $10 a month for businesses with a single line, Branigan said.

The service also requires a separate piece of equipment, which is about the size of a calculator.